The Dominican University women's volleyball team got the best of the Lakeland College Muskies in Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) action on Friday night, topping the host Muskies in three sets (25-22, 25-23, 25-21) to run the Stars' NACC winning streak to 26 matches including NACC Tournament play.
 
The Stars started slow as they have done on a number of occasions on the season.  On Friday, the Stars found themselves trailing 17-9 in the opening set before rattling off six straight points, capped by a kill by Rosalyn Wyse (Greenville, Mich.), to narrow the gap to 17-15.  After a pair of points for the Muskies, Dominican scored five of the next six, including a pair of kills by Tessa Griparis (Belleair, Fla.), to even the score at 20-20.
 
After trading sideouts, Dominican closed the set on a four-point run that saw three Lakeland errors to hand the Stars a 1-0 lead after the first set.
 
The second frame followed similar suit as Lakeland opened a 10-4 before the Stars used a six-point spurt that was sparked by a kill by Maddi Zanoni (Hudsonville, Mich.) to even the score, 10-10.
 
Lakeland pulled back in front and built back a four-point lead back up at 17-13 before another Dominican run put the Stars on top for just the second time in the set, 18-17.  The sides traded points and leads all the way to 23-23 before back-to-back Lakeland errors swung the second set to Dominican, giving the Stars a 2-0 lead.
 
Dominican started stronger in the third set, with the conference foes trading four leads early in the set until the Stars used a 7-2 run to open a 21-16 lead and never looked back.
 
The Stars were paced by their middles with Griparis and Kendyl Todd (Crete, Ill.) logging 11 and ten kills respectively.  The duo also combined for six total blocks, three block assists apiece, in leading the Stars to their 14^th win of the season.
 
Christina Wilson (Homer Glen, Ill.) picked up another double-double with 36 assists and a team-high 16 digs while Wyse and Caitlen Foote (Dexter, Mich.) added 15 digs apiece.
 
"Tonight we made a lot of improvement with our blocking," said Dominican's head coach Jeanne Czipri. "That is something that we needed to happen."
 
"Olivia Szuszkiewicz (Barrington, Ill.) passed an excellent game on serve receive," continued Czipri, "and our passing in general, really allowed our middles to get going.  Tessa and Kendyl both had a great match offensively and defensively."
 
The Stars are now 14-6 overall and 3-0 in NACC play this season with a conference tilt against the Edgewood College Eagles on the schedule for tomorrow along with a non-conference match against UW-La Crosse in Madison, Wisconsin.